World Trade Center & Long Island

The day after Thanksgiving we headed out into the city with Phil's cousins to walk around. We walked through the financial district and took a walk through the ground zero area to see the progress being made on the new World Trade Centers.

All of the cousins and Calvin (Me, Lucia, Phil, Alex, Lea, Wally and Kevin).
We had to go up some stairs to bypass all the construction. Kevin put in some effort to carry Calvin up the stairs. And then we realized there was an elevator...I don't blame him for the pained look, Calvin's heavy these days...

We passed through one of the financial buildings and Lea and Calvin admired the indoor palm trees.

Where is everyone?

Calvin's first encounter with New York City pigeons.


After such a busy day, Calvin passed out pretty easily in the car.

In the evening we headed out to Long Island to visit one of my old college roommates, Le. She took us to one of the Tanger Outlets near her house to walk around and have dinner. They had an ice rink setup, which seemed pretty nice.

After dinner we headed back to my friend's house where Calvin got to play with Le's daughter, Mai who's 3 already!
Mai is so sweet. She always stops to make sure Calvin is ok.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving as always started out with a light brunch with my family. Phil's mom and his sister ended up joining us this year. Our first holiday in the new house.


Not too much food, but we have to keep it light to make room for Thanksgiving dinner.
After brunch Calvin tried working off some of the Thanksgiving food early by pushing cousin Maddy around in the toy stroller. Maddy got her "Queen" wave down.

For dinner it was on to Phil's Aunt Chan's house. Calvin got to meet up with some of the cousins. Here he is with his biggest fans, Lucia and Lea.

They always love to measure Calvin against the turkey - it's no contest this year though. Calvin -2, Turkey - 0.

This year the turkey was covered in bacon.

Lots of food...

And more food...
Baked bree! Yum.


Lobster salad cups


Calvin took center stage with his dancing.






All of the dancing and eating is starting to catch up with Calvin.
Dessert time! Don't even ask how many desserts there were...too many to count.


Lucia even made a flaming green tea birthday cake!



Calvin is too full from all of the eating. Time to wheel him home....

Westlake & Jayden!!!

Ok, I'm back. And now we're up to November...I'm sure I'll actually make it to 2012 at some point...

Back in November I had to head back to Ohio for work. It's tough being away from Calvin for so long, but it gave me a chance to visit our good friends Steve and Rebecca, and their new baby son, Jayden! I think Phil is still jealous that he still hasn't gotten a chance to meet Jayden yet. He is so adorable, and just holding him makes me think of when Calvin used to be that small. I don't think Jayden liked me very much though - he seemed a little cranky when I was holding him.


Now he is back in mommy's arms. I think I see the hint of a smile. ^__^

This is one of my favorite pictures of Jayden and Rebecca. They're not looking at the camera, but

I also got to go out a few times with some coworkers. One of the places I got to try was a new restaurant in Crocker Park called "B Spot". I went with a bunch of the team leaders from my department as part of a team building event. I think the B stands for burgers and brats. They also have some tasty (and strange) milkshake flavors available - alcohol optional ^__^


The burgers seemed tiny by normal standards, but they were just the right size for me.